


Life is like an orange; full of slices

by Itsuey



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-29
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 06:05:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11351403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itsuey/pseuds/Itsuey
Summary: A companion piece to Open Up and Let the Dark Horse In; excerpts of life in the form of song-inspired ficlets





	1. Nightwish - The Islander

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Open Up and Let the Dark Horse In](https://archiveofourown.org/works/331839) by [Itsuey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itsuey/pseuds/Itsuey). 



> Sometimes when I'm stuck I like to put on some music and write whatever comes to mind when I'm listening, sometimes I only get one or two lines, sometimes I get several pages. In the past, I've posted these as song challenges but I thought, in this case, they were so specific to this universe that I felt they should have their own place.
> 
> This isn't highly edited and polished work, a lot of it is written very quickly and, while I've gone back and corrected a few typos, none of it has been treated as I would an actual fic.

He couldn't even remember what they were fighting about, it had probably only been a word or two there, just slightly out of place and he had flipped. He'd been doing it a lot recently, the depths of winter was never a good time to be around him, especially when he'd been drinking. 

The sharp spray from the sea was making him even more irritable than usual; he hadn't brought a scarf with him and he was cold and wet and hated everything. He kicked a rock with as much force as he could muster, feeling a small sense of satisfaction as it went sailing out into the waves, sending a few seabirds soaring into the sky screeching their discontent at his actions.

“Heikki! Will you stop for just a minute?”

He hadn't asked Vitaly to come with him, how was it his fault that the other man couldn't keep up? He'd gone for a walk to clear his head and now he was being followed, almost like the Russian thought he was-

“I'm not a child! You can stop following me now!”

“I'm not following you because I think you're a child, I'm following you because I'm worried about you, you're not well.”

“I'm fine.” He turned on his heel and went storming across the rocks again, kicking anything in his path as he went.

“Will you at least wear a scarf? It's about to snow.”

“I don't need a scarf. I'm Finnish, we don't do scarves.”

“You want to get ill, be my guest. But while you're sitting in bed feeling sorry for yourself, I'm going to be taking Lexsi and Yuri skating with me.”

Heikki stopped, mid-stride and turned to face the other man. “You always use the bloody kids against me, that's unfair.”

“I'm not above playing dirty if I get to see you happy. Will you come and see the doctor now? She's an expert in seasonal affective disorder and if she says she can help, she probably can.”

Still scowling, he picked his way back across the rocks to Vitaly's side and together they walked back up the beach towards the village. He felt Vitaly's fingers brush against his and accepted his husband's hand, lacing their fingers together through their gloves. No matter how angry he was, somehow Vitaly could always make it ok.


	2. Julie Fowlis - Touch the Sky

Christmas in the village was always a mad affair; while their own home was a strange mish-mash of Russian and Finnish tradition, the village went all out to demonstrate the Pagan traditions of the time of year with treks through the dark woods, massive towering infernos that the children danced around, shrieking with joy every time a piece of wood fell the ten feet to the ground and shattered in an explosion of sparks. 

Neither of them had seen Aleksi for at least half an hour but there was a very good chance he was one of the small masked figures running, screaming, through the snow in a frantic game of tag that had come about after an argument over who of a pair of brothers got to eat the last gingerbread man. 

The mug of hot chocolate was wonderfully warm in his hands and was reintroducing a bit more feeling to his face. He was almost tempted to find some thicker gloves, but Vitaly's winter getup was the source of much amusement among the villagers; despite his northern heritage, the Russian was bundled up in an enormous coat done up to his nose, twinned with a wooly hat, his hood up, a thick scarf and a pair of insulated gloves. He giggled into his drink, trying to pretend he wasn't when Vitaly glared at him from the depths of his wooly prison.


	3. Owl City - Fireflies

The first time Yuri saw a firefly she almost leapt from his arms to catch the strange creature that had just flown past her. Heikki had managed to grab her just in time and pull her back to him, ignoring the scream of protest as she scrabbled to free herself.

“You can't fly Yuri, you'll hurt yourself,” he had said to her, turning her to look towards the trees in the distance. “Look, if you stay still they'll come to you.”

They had sat down on the small hill, Yuri frantically glancing around them as Aleksi settled himself into a small ball and went to sleep on the blanket behind them. She hadn't caught one that night, but it wasn't for lack of trying. 

The little bug on the back of her helmet caught the light as he turned it over in his hands, running his fingers along the contours, always coming back to the insect. Every single helmet, no matter how changed it was, always had the firefly, subtly tucked away inside the design or brightly displayed on the top, it was always there, almost as if it were a good luck charm to her.

Good luck was something she could really do with right now. 

He turned the helmet to look at the huge cracks running down the outer shell. Every time he saw them he forgot how to breathe, he could see in horrifically high detail his daughter veering sharply in the tunnel to avoid the catastrophic crash playing out in front of her, bursting into the sunlight at the wrong angle and flipping the car into the barriers.

A hand landed on his wrist and slowly took the helmet away from him, placing it on the table in front of them, replacing it with a cup of coffee.

“You look like you could do with it.”

“Any news?”

Vitaly shook his head and settled next to Heikki with his own paper cup of cheap coffee. “They said the surgery was going well but she wasn't out of the woods yet.”

“She's been in there hours.”

“It's been forty minutes Heikki. There's nothing you can do.”

“I know there's nothing I can do! She's my child and I know there's nothing in the world I can do to help her now and I hate it! I don't know what to do!” He let Vitaly pull him into a hug, rescuing his coffee before it ended up on the floor, and pretended he wasn't crying. He pretended he couldn't feel Vitaly's tears in his hair either.


End file.
